Perez had to hold back: 'Then I would have been in the lead longer'

Sergio Perez had a disappointing race at Zandvoort. The Mexican saw a podium spot slip by him after a five-second penalty. The rain at the end of the race threw a spanner in the works for the Red Bull driver, whereas at the start of the race, he had moved into the lead through the rain.

Despite the good decision to go in after the first lap, it was soon clear that Perez was not going to hold on to keep Verstappen behind him. The gap narrowed very quickly, and after the Dutchman went in a lap early to change to slicks, Perez had no chance.

"We were expecting rain. The team was telling me that there was more rain coming, so it was very important because the track was on the dry side. So if I were to push, I would just have destroyed completely the inter tyre," the Mexican told GPblog and others.

Perez does give credit to his team for the quick decision to change to intermediates: "Yes, they were super quick, so well done for the team on that. Unfortunately, we didn't go dry, there was more rain coming on the inter. Otherwise, we could have pushed more on that first stage, probably keep the lead for longer."